The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 29
Stardate 50216.6: Captain's log, supplemental
Although there seemed to be a cloaked ship very near to us and the runabout Alpha, it did not show any sign of hostility. The questions remain. There must be a receiver of the messages which are relayed by the DS2 communications program, probably a forgotten Federation station or ship. Maybe even an outpost on a planet.
End Log
"Found anything yet ?", asked Jan as he still looked at his readouts as well.
"Nothing sir. The Alpha is still on course, but there is no other ship around. In six hours we will leave DS2 sensor range. The Alpha should arrive at the receiver within the hour. I have already reported our condiditon to the station."
"I hope the Alpha finds something soon. I hate it when I have to turn back from a ghost hunt."
Nurse Nadine new exactly how the lieutenant-colonel felt. They had been in a similar situation many times before. In this case her only hope was that nobody would need her nursing skills.
"Sir, a message from DS2.", Nadine reported as if she was the communications officer on a Galaxy class vessel.
"Runabouts Alpha and Beta, we have some bad news. Commander Luke has recalculated the position of the receiver, and it is a little bit further then originally thought. We are talking about 4.7 lightyears. The Alpha should need at least 12 hours to get there. Lieutenant-colonel Jan, stay on course. DS2 out."
On runabout Alpha cadet Thomas was sending general hail messages on all frequencies, but without success. He kept on trying. Caroline was sitting at the helm. Now that the danger of a cloaked ship was gone, junior lieutenant Marianne was taking a nap in her quarters. The quarters of the new runabouts were small and a bit Spartan, but they had to do. As lieutenant-colonel Jan had alread made every attempt to figure out the runabout's propulsion system, there was no answer. Even the two DS2 engineers had no idea how this engine could develop such high speed. Caroline looked at the direction of their destination through the front window. Nothing but white stripes. She knew that that were stars and that the runabout's speed made them look like stripes. She had to study a lot more about warp technology. She stared through the window. What was out there ? Who was out there ?
On the Federation secret relay station 4465-A was a young man trying to get on his feet again. What the hell had happened. Now he managed to get on his knees. His head hurted as if it could explode any second. With on hand on a console he tried to get up and failed. Next to him was another man lieing on the floor. He was dead. His blue uniform was now red. The console apparently had blown up. Two meters away, there was a woman. She seemed to have strange pointed ears. Not like the man who was trying to get up. He didn't know who the others were. He didn't know where he was, or what he was supposed to do. The woman with the pointed ears didn't move. He coughed. There was a lot of smoke. Only half a meter away, there was a little fire. With all his strenght he took of his uniform vest and started hitting it on the fire until it was out. Then he noticed his right leg was broken. This was a room with all kinds of consoles. Some of them were heavily damaged. Who was he ? What was he doing here ?
"Help ! Is there anybody here ?!", he shouted. Actually he didn't really know whether he had really shouted, or whether he only thought he had.
What had happened ? He shook his head. That hurt. Who was he ? Then he fell on the floor.